Eyelashes
by Mockingjay1804
Summary: "Peeta comes by every day to bring me cheese buns and begins to help me work on the family book." My story about how this came to be, from Peeta's POV. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

I knock on the Everdeens' front door, hoping that when I come in Gale will still be unconscious from the medicine. But, as usual, the odds aren't in my favor. "Hello, Peeta." Mrs. Everdeen's greeting seems too formal, too forced. I knew that she would be uneasy with me and Gale both here, but there's a hint of exasperation in her voice. Perhaps it's just from treating Gale's lash marks. Gale stares me down with such intensity. I swear, if he weren't wounded at the moment, I would probably turn around and run back to the bakery, locking the door behind me when I get there. Although, with the looks I am getting from him, he might just pick the lock. He is probably that eager to keep me away from Katniss. His Katniss…I guess I would be giving me the same looks too if I were in his position. After all, I am marrying the girl he thought he would marry since he was 14.

Prim, always so warm and kind, doesn't have a hint of insincerity in her voice when she addresses me. "Hi, Peeta! Are you here to see Katniss? She's upstairs in her room. Maybe sleeping, I think her cheek probably still hurts from the whip. You can go up there if you want!" I don't hesitate to address her just as warm. "Thanks, Prim. I just came to check on her. I was worried she might be in pain, so I came to cheer her up."

I take my time walking up the stairs to Katniss's room. Maybe she doesn't want to see me. Maybe I should just leave her alone. She probably wants me to. She probably wants for me to just go away, so she can run away with Gale…

"Katniss? Are you awake?" Her voice is hoarse when she addresses me. "Ya, I'm awake. Come in."

I tiptoe in her room, shutting the door behind me. She slides over to one side of the bed and pats the space next to her. I don't hesitate to sit next to her. But once I do, I forget everything I was going to say. Just looking into those beautiful eyes, I could get lost in them. They aren't just one color. They are a silvery gray mist, with specks of black and white. Suddenly, I remember she is probably waiting for me to say something to her. "I just wanted to see if you were ok, you know, with your foot and all. I know you would rather be somewhere else." I don't say 'the woods', because I know there are probably people spying on us. Ever since those peacekeepers showed up and questioned Katniss about where she had been, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that we're being watched. "I know," she says, "but at least I have you to visit with." I start to lean forward, wanting to kiss her, but stop when I remember we are supposed to be 'just friends'. That is going to be harder than I had imagined.

"Ok. So what do you want to talk about?" I say a little too eagerly. She gives me a questioning look, but continues with what she was going to say anyway. "I'm looking at my mother's plant book. It goes back generations. It was originally for healing, but my father added edible plants, too. It kept us alive when-" Katniss gets a faraway look in her eyes, and I can tell she's remembering her father. To distract her from whatever memory she is recalling, I throw myself into the conversation once more. "That's interesting. There's so many pages in this thing, it must hold tons of information. Even I could survive in the woods after reading this!" I say, trying to get her to crack a smile. She doesn't, but at least I pulled her out of whatever trance she was in before. "Maybe, but you would have to be good at guessing. It doesn't have pictures of the plants or anything, it just describes them-" I cut her off before she can continue. "I'll draw the plants for you." I say. "It could be something we could work on together. As friends, I mean."

Katniss hesitates a moment before saying anything else. When she speaks, she is quiet, but sincere. "I'd like that. A lot." She smiles, and once again I am transfixed by Katniss's beauty.

"Great. Do you want to start now?" I ask. "Actually, I'm pretty tired. But perhaps you could come over tomorrow. We could work on it then." She says. I agree, stand up, and pull the covers up to her chin. I know we are supposed to be just friends, but she looks so beautiful and innocent that I can't resist leaning down to kiss her gently on her forehead.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as I wake up, I want to go see Katniss. Maybe this plant book thing will heal things between us. After the Victory Tour, everything we had disappeared. Sure, we didn't have much, but all those nights I spent holding her on the train had to mean _something._ Of course, I didn't hold her while she was sleeping just because. It was her nightmares that kept me by her side at night. This makes me realize she hasn't needed me at all since we got back from the Victory Tour. Is it because she has Gale now? Is he protecting her, wrapped around her, calming her when she wakes up in the dead of night? The very thought of that makes me stomach twist up in knots. Katniss would never do that…would she? No, she wouldn't. She couldn't.

Simply because I don't want to seem too eager to help Katniss with her book, I bake three loaves of cheese bread before I go to see her. At the last second, I decide not only to give one to Mrs. Everdeen, but to give one to Gale, too. Hopefully he won't stare at me so severely after I give him some food to take home to his family. He probably won't, if he's half as protective of his family as Katniss is.

Today, Prim opens the door to greet me. She smiles when I give her the bread to take to her mother. I follow her into the kitchen to give the other loaf of cheese bread to Gale. "Mother, look what Peeta brought us!" Prim says excitedly. She truly makes me wish I had a little sister of my own. Mrs. Everdeen takes the bread without saying anything, but she does smile warmly at me. Maybe her mood yesterday was because of Gale's condition. Which makes me remember why I came in her. Gale is wide awake, eyeing me from across the kitchen. I walk over to him. "I brought this for you," I say in a steady voice, "Maybe your mother can take it home to your family after she visits you." He eyes the bread for a moment before saying in a voice similar to mine, "Thank you. Rory always loves fresh bread. And Posy will like it too. She has the measles you know, so she won't be able to do much." I tell him that I hope Posy gets well soon with warmth to my tone, because that little girl truly does have a heart of gold and it would be a shame if she didn't, in fact, get well soon.

I walk up the stairs without as much doubt as I had yesterday. At least today I have a reason to be here. When I enter Katniss's room, she is sitting in her bed, writing something in the plant book that we will be working on. I notice that the swelling on her cheek has gone down. She looks up when I enter, but she doesn't say anything. I walk over and sit on the side of her bed, in the same exact spot as yesterday. "So, what do you need me to draw for you today?" I ask. Katniss gives me several pieces of paper to sketch on without saying anything. She must really be engrossed in this book, because she hasn't said anything to me so far. I stare at the slips of paper for a moment before saying, "I thought that I would be drawing the plants in the book?"

Katniss speaks for the first time today. "I don't have any real plants for you to draw, so I'll have to describe them for you. I need to make sure they look exactly like the plant before you can draw it in the book." I nod silently, and Katniss informs me all about edible flowers. Chrysanthemums, carnations, English Daisies, and Marigolds. I sketch every flower for her before she approves it, and then I proceed to draw the exact same flower again in the actual book. I had expected her to talk to me while I worked, or to sleep, but she just watches me draw. She seems genuinely interested in my sketching, and I wonder why. I look up from my work for a moment to catch her watching me. She looks away, but not before I see what she is doing.

"Why are you watching me sketch?" I whisper. The room is so quiet right now, it would feel like I was shouting if I had spoken any louder. "I'm not watching you sketch," she whispers back, "I'm watching your face _while_ you sketch." I must look confused, because she continues. "You look different when you're concentrating on something. I can't quite place what it is, maybe your eyes. I've only seen it a few times, like in the arena, or in District 11, when you gave your speech and again when you pushed the peacekeepers away from me. But something definitely changes in your look."

"Oh." Is all I can say, because I am blown away that she has noticed that about me. "So that's why you watch me sketch." She looks down again, before blushing. "Well, that, and…I seem to mesmerized by your eyelashes." Now it's my turn to blush. "My eyelashes?" I laugh softly. "What about them?" Her voice drops to a whisper again. "They're so long. I wonder how they don't get tangled when you blink." She sounds so innocent when she speaks. And when I lean in to kiss her gently on the lips, she doesn't hesitate before returning the favor.

Before I go home, I stop at the market to pick up the ingredients for more cheese bread.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello readers(: I just wanted to say that this story is going kind of slow at the moment. I can't really tell which direction it's going anymore! Right now I'm just planning on writing Peeta's POV of seeing Katniss's photo shoot and finding out about the Quarter Quell. Sound ok? R&R please!** _I wake up in the dripping wet cave. Why am I here? Then I remember…Katniss. Suddenly, she screams, and I muster up every ounce of strength I have before stepping out into the clearing. Someone cloaked in black, I can't see their face. This momentarily confuses me until Katniss screams again. The stranger has her pinned to the ground. He takes out a sword, holding it over Katniss…_

"_No!" I scream, and try to run to Katniss. I can't move, and realize that I don't have legs. Did the stranger cut them off? I can't get to Katniss. She is screaming for me, until the stranger plunges the sword in her heart. _

"KATNISS!" I yell, sitting strait up in my bed. It was just a nightmare. Like it always is. I sigh, get out of bed slowly, and retreat to the corner of my room where my painting supplies are set up. I paint the inside of the cave flawlessly, with the walls and cracks in the sealing dripping wet. In the very corner of the canvas, though, you can clearly see a dark figure with a sword leaning over a beautiful dark-haired girl.

Today when I knock on the door, Mrs. Everdeen seems pleased to see me. Perhaps it's just the bread. Nevertheless, she smiles when I walk into the kitchen. Gale is unconscious this morning, and I notice the snow coating his back. Mrs. Everdeen tells me it soothes the lash marks, and that's when I realize the snow isn't white, it's more of a mint green. Must be some kind of medicine. I offer to take some upstairs to Katniss.

I don't hesitate at the top of the stairs at all. I still knock, but I don't wait for her to answer before I walk into her room.

Today, it's edible roots. Daikon, parsnip, horseradish, and something called salsify. Katniss watches me again, although I don't catch her watching me sketch, or my face _while_ I sketch. So she says. I'm just finishing up the last sketch when she speaks for the first time today about something other than plants.

"What's been happening recently in District 12?" She asks. I think about telling her that a man from the Seam was whipped in front of everybody yesterday. His wife had been in labor, and because of that he had shown up late for work in the mines. It was a horrible thing to watch, mostly because the man didn't deserve it at all.

"Why don't I help you downstairs? Then you can watch the news and see what you've missed for the past few days." She nods, and I help her to her feet. We manage to make it to her door, but it's obvious she's not going to make it down the stairs with just me to lean on. So I ignore her blush when I pick her up wedding style and carry her down the stairs.

Gale is awake when we make it to the bottom of the steps, and he gives me that look again. _Why are you hear? You don't belong here. Leave Katniss and I alone._ I can already hear what he wants so desperately to tell me, but I don't listen. Surprised isn't a big enough word to describe Mrs. Everdeen's face when she sees me carrying Katniss. I ignore their looks and lay Katniss down on the couch, next to Prim. She smiles when she sees us. Katniss clicks through the normal array of Capital shows. Previous Hunger Games, commercials, the history of Panem. I'm just as surprised as the rest of the household when she decides on a news report about District 13.

Every once in a while, you can catch a report about District 13. They're mostly all the same: a reporter standing in front of the smoking, smoldering remains of the Justice Building, talking about how the Capital destroyed this district because they didn't deserve the protection and support the Capital offers and blah, blah, blah. I had never really found any of them interesting. Katniss, on the other hand, seems to take great interest in them. I can't help but wonder why, although I don't ask.

The following days are the same. The only thing that changes from day to day is the plants I draw. On day 3, it's edible bark. Then edible grasses. And, lastly, edible leaves. It's always the same. I quietly sketch the plants, Katniss watches. I catch her watching. I kiss her. I carry her downstairs. She watches shows about District 13.

After a week of this, Katniss says something to me that differs from our usual small talk. "You probably shouldn't come over tomorrow." This confuses me. I had become accustomed to visiting her, and had began to think that she might even be looking forward to my visits.

"Well, because…I'm going to be doing the photo shoot tomorrow. With the…wedding dresses." She spits out the word 'wedding' so quickly I almost don't catch it.

"Oh." Is all I can say, because my jaw clenches. The memory hits me like a ton of bricks. I am in my quarters in the train, laying on my bed, seething with hatred for the Capital. I had always dreamed of Katniss falling in love with me, of proposing to her. But this was definitely a sick way to do it. Katniss didn't want it. That in itself was even more painful than not being with Katniss.

"I'm sorry, Peeta. For us being forced into this. For everything in the games. For not loving you as much as you love me." I accept her apology, partially because she truly sounds sincere when she says it but mostly because I could be angry at her.

"I know. It's just that whenever I thought about the possibility of us, I had never wanted it to be…forced." I say. She nods, and takes a deep breath.

"But maybe this will stop the rebellion. Maybe then the Capital will stop following us. And we can be ourselves again." I shake my head. Doesn't she realize that this will never go away?

"Katniss…we'll never be able to be ourselves again. Not when we're mentoring the tributes. They'll continue to talk about our 'romance' until the next victor from 12 surfaces, and by then, well, we might just be in the same shape as Haymitch." Despite the seriousness of the situation, we both laugh at the thought of the two star-crossed lovers from District 12, falling off the stage at the future reapings.

"I know, I know. I just don't know what to do," she says. "It seems like we're just waiting for the Capital to tell us what to do next." I nod, because I know exactly what she means.

"You're going to look beautiful in all of those wedding dresses tomorrow." I whisper, my face just inches from hers. "Even though you might not be marrying me for the right reasons." This time, she is the one to lean forward and kiss me.


End file.
